He's confident the Tigers will be just fine without quarterback Corby Jones, a four-year starter, and tailback Devin West, the school's single-season rushing record-holder.

"I don't blame you guys for asking questions about Corby and Devin, but we don't worry about them being gone," Smith told reporters. "The way a football year goes, that seems so far removed now."

"I'm used to the guys I'm playing with now, and looking forward to the season with our new offensive players."

Missouri, 8-4 last year with its second consecutive winning season and bowl appearance, could improve on that with six starters back on offense and five on defense. The toughest tests - Nebraska on Sept. 25, Texas Tech on Oct. 30 and Texas A&M on Nov. 13 - come at home.

The Tigers could easily start out 3-1 after home dates against Alabama-Birmingham and Western Michigan and a game at Memphis Oct. 2.

"Our players believe we can take the next step, which is basically challenge or win the conference championship, and go on from there," Smith said. "That's what we've worked toward."

Smith emerged from spring practice confident he has able replacements for Jones. Redshirt freshman Kirk Farmer and sophomore Jim Dougherty emerged as the top candidates, and Smith said freshman Darius Outlaw is a Jones clone.

Smith probably will alternate the two until one seizes the job.

"We've worked on a quarterback system," he said. "Right now, I'd say we have 1A and 1B. Maybe all season we'll play both quarterbacks."

Teammates appear to have confidence in both of them.

"I think they're pretty similar guys," center Rob Riti said. "We've got an exceptional group of wide receivers and good young quarterbacks who can throw the ball."

Tailback DeVaughn Black was impressive against Kansas State when West was sidelined by an ankle injury, and Zain Gilmore could split time there. Black had 48 yards on five carries against Kansas State, and also was the leading rusher in the spring game with 75 yards on 17 carries and two touchdowns.

The biggest change in the offense may be more passing. Smith wants to take advantage of his most-experienced skill position - receiver. Senior Kent Layman and junior John Dausman both return. Layman has averaged 22 yards per catch the past two seasons and Dausman caught 18 passes last year for an average of 20.2 yards.

"We're not going to become a passing team. We want to be a physical, run-oriented team first," Smith said. "But when you've got talent at wide receiver and quarterbacks that so far have shown they can get the ball out there, we want to try to balance it up a little more."

The defense is led by big-play end Justin Smith, the Big 12 defensive freshman of the year, and senior linebacker Barry Odom. Smith was the first Missouri freshman in 13 seasons to start every game. He finished with 86 tackles. The Tigers likely will use him some at linebacker to keep offenses off balance.

Smith has compared Smith with Junior Seau, who played for him at Southern California.

Nose tackle Jeff Marriott was the defensive MVP of the Insight.com Bowl, and one of his two blocked field goals led to a touchdown in that game.

The biggest potential problem area is the secondary, where senior cornerback Carlos Posey is the lone holdover.

"We all know our strength at the start of the season lies in our defense," Smith said. "It's probably the best one we've had here. We're going to have to lean on it a little bit more early."

Another area of concern is the kicking game. Missouri has been inconsistent in both punting and place-kicking and mistakes cost the Tigers two victories last year.

Sophomore Brian Long, who made three of four field-goal attempts, is the leading candidate at place-kicker.

Senior punter Vince Sebo was inconsistent - he hit an 80-yarder against Nebraska but followed it with a 6-yard shank. Sebo has worked on shortening his approach from three steps to two. AP PhotoMissouri offensive lineman Justin Bland ignores quarterback Kirk Farmer's attempt to break him up.